Near Pokrovsk, Ukraine Discovers Chaos Favors The Bigger Army

Every attack exposes flanks to counterattack, and Russia has more troops for both

Ukrainian M-2 fighting vehicles. 225th Assault Regiment photo

The fighting northeast of Pokrovsk is so chaotic that troops from both sides are in constant danger of being surrounded and cut off by the enemy. That chaos is making some Ukrainian forces cautious—and giving the Russians a chance to consolidate their positions inside the 40 sq km pocket around the village of Kucheriv Yar.

That, in turn, allows the Russians to continue threatening the supply lines into Pokrovsk and Kostiantynivka, themselves the last lines of defense between Russian field armies in Donetsk Oblast and the main free urban conglomerate stretching from Kramatorsk to Sloviansk in western Donetsk.

On or before Monday, Ukrainian forces—possibly from the 225th Assault Regiment—spotted a Russian artillery convoy trying to slip past Ukrainian surveillance near the village of Pankivka and enter the Kucheriv Yar salient.

The Ukrainians blasted the convoy, destroying several vehicles and an aging but still potent M46 howitzer. But other Russian reinforcements are marching into the salient, which developed in early August after the Russian 132nd Motor Rifle Brigade slipped past undermanned Ukrainian trenches northeast of Pokrovsk.

The Russians originally aimed to capture the village of Dobropillia, which sits astride a key supply line 15 km north of Pokrovsk—but they never quite got there. A strong Ukrainian counterattack led by the 1st Azov Corps pushed the Russians back to Kucheriv Yar.

Battered but not defeated, the Russian 51st Combined Arms Army isn’t giving up. The Kremlin has rushed five marine regiments and brigades to the 51st CAA’s positions at the base of the salient in order to sustain the field army’s effort to close a pincer around Pokrovsk.

Read the rest at Euromaidan Press.